VILLA ROUNDTABLE with AMY HATKOFF

"One generation full of deeply loving parents would change the brain of the next generation, and with that, the world."

SHAPED BY LOVE by AMY HATKOFF explores what adults can do to support the optimal brain development of children. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the scientific research about what babies and young children need for positive outcomes in every area of development. The book translates these groundbreaking findings into a language that is easy for all parents to understand and bring to everyday interactions with their children. It provides insight and tools to help lay the foundation for healthy patterns in children that can last a lifetime.

Today’s technological advances can track how babies’ brains develop. MRIs and PET scans are now able to identify the impact different experiences have on specific areas of the brain. These findings confirm that early relationships and the interactions of genes and the environment shape the brain. Secure attachments and sensitive, nurturing interactions lead to optimal development in all areas including social, emotional, cognitive,

AMY HATKOFF is a writer, producer, educator and advocate and has spent more than 30 years raising awareness of the capacities and needs of babies and children. She has worked with children, families and professionals in shelters, welfare hotels, community-based programs, early childhood and infant mental health programs, schools, hospitals, doctors' offices, and prisons.  She is passionate about translating the growing body of science on early brain development into a language that is easy for parents of all backgrounds to understand and has created a range of projects to widely disseminate this information.

Ms. Hatkoff synthesized the science on early brain development for The First Years Last Forever, part of New Screen Concepts series for parents hosted and created by Rob Reiner. The video addresses how parents and caregivers can foster children’s emotional, social and cognitive development. It has been distributed nationwide as part of Reiner’s public education campaign about the importance of the first years of life.

Ms. Hatkoff is the author of You Are My World: How a Parent’s Love Shapes a Baby’s Mind (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2007) which celebrates the power and impact of early relationships on babies’ development. Including the bilingual Spanish-English edition, more than 50,000 copies of the book have been sold. Her book, How to Save the Children (Simon and Schuster Fireside Press, 1992) draws attention to the suffering of children in the United States and offers concrete suggestions about how to fight the impact of poverty and neglect. With a moving foreword by Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund, and as a Book-of-the-Month Club pro bono publico selection, How to Save the Children had more than 45,000 copies in circulation.

In 1999, at the request of Vice President Al Gore, Ms. Hatkoff researched the needs of parents and submitted a plan for a National Parenting Education Program. She served as Senior Advisor, Project Development and Senior Director-Early Childhood Content for Parenting Smarts, a multi-media platform to support parents in optimizing their children’s development founded by